


oath of the dagger

by breadofthewild



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Childhood Memories, Gen, Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), how do i tag?? lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:26:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22065478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/breadofthewild/pseuds/breadofthewild
Summary: A tear slipped down Dimitri's cheek, but he knew it'd be mistaken for the rain. Under the sounds of the downpour, in front of the Emperor, he wept. His bangs covered his eyes, never letting Edelgard see his face, and he cried for the loss he had come to. He cried for the time they had lost, not just him and Edelgard, but for everyone he held dear from the Officers Academy. He cried for his own ambitions, never to be achieved. He cried for the souls he could not avenge, and he cried for the lives that he had taken in a mindless rage on the battlefield.But most of all, he cried for who Edelgard used to be.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	oath of the dagger

**Author's Note:**

> hi this is my first time posting smth to ao3 so i'm not sure if i'm doin this right but anywho i think i'm gonna start posting some fe3h excerpts that i've published on (gag) wattpad, lmao. so. yeah!
> 
> this is basically dimitri's death in crimson flower w a nice flashback at the end (that's showed in game but i changed it bc i do what i want) to make it extra angsty so enjoy

He couldn't bear to look at her.

The King of Faerghus held his lance tightly in one hand, but even then he felt his grip loosen. The rain had started to come down harder, and he could barely hear the sounds of the battle anymore. Not even the voices that haunted him for countless nights could be heard over the pattering of rain against the Tailtean Plains. Dimitri closed his eyes.

This was his duty. He had only come for one thing and one thing only. And she was right in front of him.

Edelgard's lavender eyes met his, and for a few seconds, she didn't recognize him. The sight of a boar, a feral look in his eyes, his hair long and unkempt under the heavy rain. His eyes bore straight into hers, only revenge left behind them. Edelgard gripped her axe tighter.

The clash of lance and axe seemed to echo all throughout the plains, and as the sounds of Areadbhar and Aymr reverberate across the sky, Dimitri didn't dare look Edelgard in the eye again. The Emperor took quick notice; his moves became sloppy and slow, his defense weakening as she hacked at him with the strength of her Hero's Relic.

With one last push, Areadbhar was struck out of Dimitri's hands.

Dimitri staggered. His weapon had flown out of sight, and in this rain, he couldn't hope to recover it anymore with Edelgard pursuing him like this. He dropped to his knees, the utter moment defeat washed over him. He bowed his head in surrender; but even so, he knew what was going to happen. Even though he longed for those days back when they were children, even though he wished more than anything for Edelgard's hazel hair to come back, even though he didn't want anything more than for her to teach him how to dance again, Dimitri's anger did not diminish. He thought of the lives the Emperor had stolen, the innocents she sacrificed all in the name for her goal. She had been driven too far towards her ambitions that she crushed everyone who dared to stand in her way.

Dimitri knew where he stood in Edelgard's mind.

A tear slipped down Dimitri's cheek, but he knew it'd be mistaken for the rain. Under the sounds of the downpour, in front of the Emperor, he wept. His bangs covered his eyes, never letting Edelgard see his face, and he cried for the loss he had come to. He cried for the time they had lost, not just him and Edelgard, but for everyone he held dear from the Officers Academy. He cried for his own ambitions, never to be achieved. He cried for the souls he could not avenge, and he cried for the lives that he had taken in a mindless rage on the battlefield.

But most of all, he cried for who Edelgard used to be.

There were words being said to him. There was no doubt that they were Edelgard's, but he couldn't listen. His defeat sank in his veins and soaked into his blood. The sounds of rain grew heavier.

Dimitri met his own eyes in the puddle before him. He didn't recognize who reflected back at him at all. All he saw was a deranged beast that had let bloodlust control his every action, a thirst for revenge so strong that he had lost sight of his own righteous path. He saw the eyes of a hopeless murderer, a slaughterer who could never satisfy the voices that haunted him every single night.

But there, in that puddle, he also saw Edelgard.

He could see where she stood. Looking up a little, he could see her shoes. They were stained with mud, the faint tracings of a royal boot peeking through. Dimitri lifted his head, and finally, rested his eyes on Edelgard's.

"Dimitri..." Edelgard said then, her eyes narrowed and her lips straight. Her axe was held in one hand at her side, and for a second, a hope flitted across Dimitri's heart that there was a chance for him to live. But that hope was gone as soon as it had arrived as Edelgard raised her axe.

Unbeknownst to Dimitri, Edelgard's hand shook. Her fingers trembled so much that she almost lost grip of Aymr, but she quickly recomposed herself and didn't let herself falter. She opened her mouth to say something, but for the first few seconds, nothing did.

She knew this was what she had to do. There was no other choice. Nobody knew Dimitri better than she did, even after all these years. Even after that Edelgard died. Neither of them were the same people they were before, and even though she sometimes longed for a simple dance under the stars, even though a pang of pain stabbed her heart when she saw someone with blonde hair, even though she felt guilt wash over her over and over again whenever someone spoke of the King of Faerghus, she did not let herself falter. She never did.

Before she swung her arm, she let out the last few words she could muster without her mask falling apart:

"Goodbye, King of Delusion."

Dimitri bowed his head again, burning the sight of Edelgard's lavender eyes and honey-colored hair into his mind. It burned and burned, and along with it, he could see himself burning as well. Being drenched in the torrential downpour couldn't have extinguished the fires he felt and saw inside of him. Nothing could.

There were no tears anymore, and for a split second, he felt at peace. He knew it was wrong for him to feel that, that he would be abandoning his kingdom and its citizens. He knew he'd never see the edge of dawn in the mornings ever again, and he will never be able to reminisce about the girl who taught him how to dance ever again.

Dimitri coughed, blood splattering over the puddle before him and distorting the reflected images that bounced back at him. The color of crimson that darkened the earth was all he needed to see before he closed his eyes for the last time.

"To...the fires of eternity with you..." Dimitri whispered, but above the thunderous roar of the rain, Edelgard somehow heard him.

She also heard his very last word.

"El."

She swung.

✽

She couldn't take another look.

The feeling of blade against flesh was normal for her now, the leader of a war so large that it threw the entire continent into shambles. She knew it was natural, the death of a person, she knew it was normal. She could accept the losses she had to sacrifice in order to see her ambitions through. She had to allow herself to be selfish.

She had to lock the old Edelgard away.

She knew that Dimitri knew. In that moment, a second before her axe met his neck, she heard it. The name of someone she hadn't heard in a very long time, the nickname her family and friends called her when she was a child. The name that faded away from history when there was no one around to call her that anymore.

Edelgard frowned. Her headpiece slipped from atop her head, the rain having made it loose. The adornments crumbled to the floor beside Dimitri's head, and Edelgard's white hair came undone and fell to her shoulders. She stood there, watching, sighing, remembering the cost of every single one of her actions. The lives she had taken, the sacrifices she had made, the corpses she had trampled on all for her goal. Edelgard frowned. And there, a tear fell from her lavender eyes.

"Are you crying?" a quiet voice asked her as she looked beyond the horizon. The sun was setting, and the glow of it bounced off the buildings of Fhirdiad.

Edelgard wiped her eyes hastily as she turned around and was met by Dimitri, his small frame and bobbed haircut standing before her. He looked at her with big eyes, eyes full of ambition and endless potential. She pouted her lips, crossing her arms.

"O-Of course not! Why would I be crying?" Edelgard retorted, but Dimitri saw the stains on her cheeks and of course, saw her wiping her face before he approached. It warmed his heart a little knowing that she felt this way, too.

"Since you're leaving..." Dimitri started, his eyes cast downward. He fumbled with the box in his hands behind his back, wrapping the ribbon around his pointer finger again and again. He finally looked back up.

"I...here. This is for you. A gift." The words were fast, quickly jumbled together in a nervous heap, and Edelgard smiled at the sight of her friend so flustered. Dimitri held out the box from his hands, closing his eyes to avoid meeting Edelgard's. He tied the ribbon himself, a dark crimson color that contrasted nicely with the white-colored box. His father, Lambert, had told him that it'd be a nice clash for a girl from the Empire.

"Dimitri...thank you. Can I open it?"

Dimitri nodded fervently, his eyes still closed in embarrassment. He could hear Edelgard pull the ribbon apart and open the box, and when she did, he peeked through his eyelids.

"A...dagger?" Edelgard asked in confusion, her eyebrows furrowing. She gazed on at the pointed blade with curiosity, but nothing about her eyes said anything about disliking the gift. She was just confused.

"Yeah," Dimitri finally answered, looking at his friend now. "They're normal gifts here. It's for you to...to cut your own path. No matter where you go." Dimitri's face flushed a tint of pink, and Edelgard held the hilt of the dagger tightly. It was a perfect size for her hands, and after spinning it around to look at the blade from all angles, she gingerly placed it back into the box.

"Thank you, Dimitri," Edelgard said, her lips widening into a warm smile. "I like that idea. Cutting my own path."

"Edelgard! Hurry up now, we've got to leave!"

"Yes, Uncle!" Edelgard bellowed to Lord Arundel as he stood by their carriage. He scoffed and rolled his eyes before climbing into the cart.

"Promise me, okay?" Dimitri said, holding out his pinky finger one last time. Edelgard wrapped the ribbon back around the frame of the box. "Promise me you'll cut your own path."

Edelgard beamed, her smile reaching the stars that now shone above them. "Of course, Dimitri. Thank you. For everything. Goodbye."

With one last promise, their pinkies intertwined one last time. Lord Arundel yelled again about hurrying up, and Edelgard dashed to the carriage after her uncle. Dimitri watched as she climbed into a seat too big for her.

As the cart began to roll away down the street, Dimitri waved. He was crying now, as kids did when they said goodbye to their friends, and so was Edelgard. Her tears dripped onto the white box she held in her lap, its stains marking the genuity of this moment forever.


End file.
